Baltimore Sleepover, Next Morning

I stayed at the Pier 5 Hotel, which is conveniently located on Pier 5 next to Piers 4 & 3 that are home to the National Aquarium, my Monday's primary destination.

The hotel was fine.  Location to value five stars.  Best place I've ever stayed?  On a scale of 1 to 10...6.9. 

 Pluses: It was quiet.  It was clean. It was easy to get in and out of--a straight shot to I-83 (10 minutes from the Maryland Zoo and the Volunteer Celebration of the previous evening).  The staff was courteous and pleasant.

Deltas: The bed was TOO soft (one of the those foam covered mattresses that absorbs you in.  Great for holding a corpse, not no nice for someone who like to roll around in bed at night).  No Bubble bath!  No room service.  Ice machine on another floor (you only have three floors, would it kill you to have three ice machines?)

Without room service, I walked the block over to Miss Shirley's.  It's Southern Cuisine with an African American spin.  The menu looked amazing.  I had the Cy Young Omlette with stoned ground grits and a Pimiento Cheese biscuit.  Because I can't seem to shake a sinus thing, I also ordered a strawberry lemonade along with coffee, hoping the citrus would help to clear my throat--it did.  

The restaurant is divided into three sections: A cozy wood-panels first dinning room with tables and booths, an enclosed exterior patio with wrought iron patio chair (and cushions) and tables, and an actually exterior area divided off from the rest of the sidewalk.  At 9:00 AM on a Monday morning, when I entered there were maybe 10 other people in the first dining room in three groups.  I was ushered out to the enclosed patio, where I was the ONLY person there.  

Now, I grant you, in my khaki pants, striped T-shirt and navy blue patterned sweater, I was not dressed like some of the patrons in the dining room--business men in suites.  But this isn't the goddamned Ritz, either.  It felt a little like being seated in the dog house.  

Soon my server arrived, a delightful young man named Jonathan.  An African American, he was up-beat, professional and welcoming.  He lightened my mood instantly.  

Toward the end of my breakfast, the hostess seated a young Black man in a suit at another table in this quiet atrium.  Okay, I thought, I'm in good company. 

On my walk back to the hotel to check out I took time to admire the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Taney WHEC-37.  It is the last viable ship of the United States military to have been at Pearl Harbor and survive.  For those who like ships and such, docked along the piers of Baltimore's Inner harbor for your inquiry and embarkment are this ship, and three more: U.S.S. Torsk (a WWII Submarine), the U. S. Coast Guard Lightship Chesapeake, and the U. S. S. Constellation, the last sail-only warship built by the US Navy (1854).

My Hotel from the National Aquarium on Pier 4.  My room was second from left on the top floor.

The entrance round-about, National Aquarium in the background

An anonymous bird sculpture in the middle of the round-about: a raven?

From the third floor loggia on the hotel.  My room was in the far opposite left side corner.

Seven-Foot Knoll Lighthouse (1855) on the end of Pier 5 today.

Federal Hill across the inner harbor.

National Aquarium on Pier 4

U.S.C.G.C. Taney

Weather Report #1

 After seven weeks of drought...looks like we are going to get some rain. 8:15PM

AVAM: Building #3

 I mentioned that the American Visionary Art Museum has a campus with three buildings.  The second building is primarily an event space.  A place for gatherings, celebrations, weddings that can be rented out.

To get to Building #3 you cross a patio flanked by a little sculpture garden with some characteristically whimsical works of art.  This open onto the "Bird" plaza with a giant mosaic egg, a four-story tall crane, and a ginormous nest that is also a balcony.  A couple of smaller bird sculptures accompany this trio.

The third building is far more open, barn-like, and houses mostly larger items from the permanent collection.  There are also offices and a pair of large classroom/work spaces on the second floor.  Among AVAM's many community outreach programs are art-making classes/happenings geared to various groups, especially children.  Some highlights:

THE LITTLE SCULPTURE GARDEN

THE "BIRD" PLAZA

BUILDING #3

Your initial impression

A collection of dozens of small mechanical carved sculptures under the heading: "Cabaret Mechanical Theatre"

One of the most iconic works in the museum's collection:
"Divine" by Andrew Logan

A nod to Baltimore's most famous "street" art, the painted screen!

I wonder if the duck in the sculpture garden is a distant cousin?

"Symphony in Wood" (1977-1999) by James Chandler

Once a singer in the company of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, Chandler gave up the stage for an executive job and a family of 5, but spent the last 22 years of his life methodically creating this sculpture.  He died shortly after it was finished.

"God Is Love" Balloon

AVAM: Focus Exhibition - Good Sports

 One of the more unique aspects of the American Visionary Art Museum is how it manages its main exhibition space.  Each year it chooses a single theme and then curates one show around that theme that hangs for the duration of the year.  The current offering is "Good Sports: The Wisdom & Fun of Fair Play."  I have to say that of all of the shows I've seen over the years, this one is the thinnest.  It features the fewest artists and the works displayed often lack a certain magic that I have come to anticipate.  That said, it was still thoughtful and there are beautiful and interesting works of all sorts to see and delight in.  I'm including an image of curator Gage Branda's statement of concept.  You should be able to enlarge it enough to read it for yourself if you are so inclined.  

Some highlights.

untitled by Manuel Bauman, n.d.

"Lincoln Financial Field" by Kambel Smith, 2019

foreground: "Christmas Eve Truce in the Snow" by Tom Duncan, 1984

"Christmas Eve Truce in the Snow" DETAIL

Vintage Pinball Games

Various Illustrated Baseballs by George Sosnak

"New York New York" by Benny Carter, n.d.

"Hit The Road Jack!" by Ben Sakoguchi, 2005

AVAM: Icarus Staircase

 One of the stand-out attributes of the first building at the American Visual Arts Museum (There are three buildings) is a dramatic open-riser marble half-circular staircase (how's that for a description?) that I will call the Icarus Staircase.  In two sections, it takes guests from the first to third floors in style.  Concave marble lined walls provide an elegant place for works of art to accompany the climber.  A larger than life bronze Icarus with wings of inlaid mirrors and colored glass forever slowly descends between the floors, while natural life flows down for a dome of skylights.  It is truly a work of art in its various components all on its own.

Looking up from the first floor.

And back down from the second!

Icarus wrapped in his wounded wings plummets toward earth.

The art between the second and third floors.

The view back down from the top!